Cygnus continues a tradition in naming their spacecraft after people that have made great contributions to the spaceflight industry either as engineers or astronauts. With the upcoming launch slated to take place February 20th, Northrop Grumman named its next mission after the great mathematician Katherine Johnson.
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Since 2012 SpaceX and Northrop Grumman (then Orbital ATK) have been providing supplies to the International Space Station. The first CRS contract brought us rockets like the Antares and Falcon 9 and without this funding, neither would exist. Today NASA continues that venture to build up the private space sector with the CRS-2 contract.
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October 1, 2020: Scrubbed two minutes before liftoff due to off nominal data. Next attempt as soon as 24 hours later.
Following Delta IV Heavy and Falcon 9 launch scrubs, a third rocket is scheduled for liftoff from the East Coast of the United States this week. Northrop Grumman will launch its Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo spacecraft from Wallops Island in Virginia between 9:38 and 9:43 p.m. ET tonight.
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